Waste disposal apparatus



J. H. POWERS 2,482,124

WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Sept. 20, 1949.

Filed Dec. 29, 1945 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v "FE i l.

lll.

Sept. 20, 1949. J. H. POWERS WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 29, 1945 .s v. Q Q ow n to r nP w fi t n A 1 M James by M Patented Sept. 20. 1949 WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS James H. Powers, Westport, Conn., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application December 29, 1945, Serial No. 638,383

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to apparatus" for the disposal of waste material, and particularly to apparatus for attachment to a sink drain for receiving a mixture of garbage and water and reducing or comminuting the solid particles to produce a flowable mixture suitable for discharge to the sink drain line. The normal sink drainage flows through the apparatus when. it is not in use.

The object of my invention is to provide certain improvements in an apparatus of this type, and in particular to provide an improved construction which will reduce wear on certain parts.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. l is a sectional elevation of a waste disposal device embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a flywheel; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective View of one of the impeller blades; Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are detail views of certain parts on an enlarged scale; Fig. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the flywheel, and Fi 9 is a detail view of a modification.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a waste disposal device having a frustoconical casing or chamber l fixedto and depending;

from the drain opening 2 of a sink 3, At the lower end of the casing is a bottom flange 4 carrying an electric motor 5 clamped against a shoulder 6 in the casing by a clamping ring 1. The bottom flange is provided with an outlet 8 for connection with the sink drain line. The bottom flange is enclosed by a removable shield 9 depending from the casing and blending into the motor.

In the lower end of the casing is a frustoconical wall In which defines a shredding chamber l clamped between a shoulder II on the bottom flange and a shoulder l2 on the casing. Rubber rings I3 and I3 arranged between the shredding chamber and the shoulders prevent the transmission of vibrations. Wall l0 may with advantage be made in two parts, a lower part l4 formed from a hard wear-resisting metal and an upper part M formed from some suitable material lower in cost than that from which part I4 is formed. This is permissible since only the lower part is subjected to substantial wear. At the lower end of the shredding chamber is a flywheel l threaded on the motor shaft IS on the upper side of which is a replaceable disk I! of wear-resisting material clamped against circumferentially spaced radially extending ribs l8 and I9 on the upper surface of the flywheel. Disk I1 is fixed to the flywheel by screws l9a. The ribs l9, which are much wider than the ribs l8, are

provided with radial recesses for receiving pairs of ears 2| depending from the lower side of the disk I1. Each pair of ears 2| defines a slot 22 for receiving an impeller blade 23 pivoted on a pin 24 extending between the ears 2|. The ends of pins 24 are positioned in holes in ears 2 I. The impeller blades are biased by gravity and by springs 24 toward the dotted line position in Fig. land are moved outward by centrifugal force to the fullline position when the flywheel is rotated. Springs 2 are located in annular recesses 24 in the blades and have out-turned ends located in openings 24 in the blades and notches 24 in ears 2|. The outward movement of the impeller blades is limited by stop lugs 25 on the blades 23 which engage the under side of the disk I! as shown in Fig. 1. In the outer position the impeller blades are in shearing cooperation with toothed shredding members 26 which are carried by and project inwardly from the lower end of the shredding chamber wall In. Three shredding members are provided uniformly spaced around the shredding chamber which otherwise has a smooth inner surface.

Referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the impeller blades 23 are positioned on radii of the flywheel so that they are at right angles to walls l0 and pass the shredding members 26 at right angles thereto. In operation, the impeller blades cause a mixture of water and garbage to be whirled around the shredding chamber at a speed such that the solid particles are moved outward by centrifugal force and reduced or comminuted by being tumbled against the teeth or serrations of the shredding members. There is also a further comminuting action resulting from the shearing action between the impeller blades and the shredding members. Since the impeller blades are freely pivoted, the possibility of jamming is reduced. Due to centrifugal action the whirling mixture of garbage and water is in the form of an annulus adjacent the side walls of the shredding chamber and having its upper end extending into the upper part of the casing. Water and garbage falling on the center of the flywheel are quickly moved outward by centrifugal force, and the movement across the upper surface of the disk has a scouring action which keeps this surface clean. To prevent jamming of solid material between the impeller blades and the shredding projections, the outer edges 28 of the impeller blades are provided with a bevel 29 flaring inwardly away from the shredding elements. When solid material is caught between the shredding elements and the bevels 29, a force is developed tending to pivot the impeller blades inward and relieve the forces which might otherwise cause jamming. The forward face of each impeller blade as regards the direction of rotation of flywheel l5, that is the face which engages directly the material being 'comminuted, is provided with a beveled surface 3| which slopes radially inwardly and backwardly as regards the direction of rotation.

When the machine is operating, these beveled surfaces engage material being comminuted and direct it toward the center of the shredding chamber. The defiected'material is returned by centrifugal force to the whirling annulus so that a continuous turnover of the solid material is produced. Also, these beveled surfaces 3| by directing material to be comminu ted toward the center of the shredding chamber serve to limit the speed of grinding so that it is not too rapid, the beveled surfaces 3| having an extent such that the desired rapidity of grinding is obtained.

The rear face 30 of the impeller blade may be flat.

It is important that the material being com minuted rotate with the flywheel and to better insure this, I provide preferably in the vicinity of the central portion of the flywheel a plurality of projections or lugs 3P (two being shown in the present instance) which engage such material and help to carry it along with the flywheel.

Projections 3| are located radially inward with respect to impeller blades 23' thus supplementing the action of blades 23. In other words, projections 3P act on material which is out of the path of travel of blades 23 at the start of rotation or operation. The forward faces 3| of projections 3| as regards the direction of rotation are substantially at right angles to the surface of the flywheel. radially outer faces 3W are tapered; and the forward radially outer edges 3| are rounded. This gives a generally outwardly tapered shape to the projections so that they are somewhat pointed. This shape is of advantage in that the straight flat faces 3| insure the maximum carrying effeet and the, pointed contour permits the projections to penetrate readily the material being comminuted. When the machine is started, the impeller blades 23 are quickly thrown outward by centrifugal force so they are not positioned to engage directly waste material in the vicinity of the central portion of the flywheel. The projections 3|a, which may be termed secondary.im-

peller lugs, engage such waste material to start it into rotation so it will be thrown out by centrifugal force into contact with the impeller blades 23. Thus the projections 3| cooperate with the blades 23 to insure that the waste material at the central portion of the flywheel is put into rotation, a thing which in instances, especially if the machine is well packed with soft waste material, might not take place were projections 3| not present.

The sloping surfaces 3 I and the rounded edges 3| are important in that they serve to prevent jamming of hard material such as a bone between the projections and the side wall It]. By reason of such surfaces, any such hard material rather than jamming between the projections and the side wall [0 will be directed upwardly by such surfaces.

In the side wall ll) of the shredding chamber at its lower end are a series of straining grooves 32 the upper ends of which communicate with the shredding chamber and the lower ends of which discharge into an annular receiving cham- The rear faces 3l and the 4 ber 33 connected to the outlet 8. The grooves 32 limit the cross section of the particles discharged from the shredding chamber into the receiving chamber. To prevent the discharge of long stringy material to the drain line which might pass lengthwise through the straining grooves, the ears 2| are provided with projections 34 having shearing surfaces 3 l which are in shearing cooperation with the lower ends of the straining grooves 32. (See Fig. 5.) These shearing surfaces clip the long stringy material, reducing it to lengths suitable for discharge to the drain line.

It-will be noted that the shearing projections 34 are formed on the flywheel so they rotate therewith and always are positioned to cooperate with the grooves 32. Thus they may be accurately positioned with respect to the lower ends of the grooves 32 and arranged to have a fixed close clearance with the adjacent surface of the flywheel which close clearance will be maintained at all times.

Below the shearing surfaces 34 are impeller elements 35 which are formed integral with and project downwardly below the flywheel (see Fig.

8) and which act as a centrifugal pump to force the flowable mixture of comminuted garbage and water from the receiving chamber 33 to the out let 8. Also, the radially outer portions of ears 2i project beyond the periphery of flywheel [5 to provide additional fluid-impelling surfaces 36 which increase the pumping action.

Since during operation the mixture of garbage and water is in the form of an annulus adjacent the side walls of the shredding chamber, any solid material remaining in the shredding chamber when the motor is stopped will settle onto the flywheel adjacent the straining grooves and may sufficiently block the grooves 32 so that the normal sink drainage will not flow through the shredding chamber to the drain line. .While the normal sink drainage might seep through in time, this is objectionable since the fluid capacity of the casing is much less than the capacity of the sink. In the present construction, this disadvantage is overcome by straining openings 31 in the disk I! intermediate the ribs I 8 and 19 on the flywheel. The straining openings are radially inward of the whirling annulus of water and garbage during the use of the apparatus andv accordingly are not blocked by solid material remaining in the shredding chamber when the motor is stopped. Since the space between the outer ends of the ribs l8 and I9 is open, passages 38 leading from the straining openings 31 to the receiving chamber 33 are provided which by-pass the straining grooves 32 and conduct normal sink drainage to the outlet 8. Solids and liquids falling on these openings during operation of the apparatus are moved centrifugally outward across the upper surface of the openings having a. scouring action which tends to keep the openings clean. The straining grooves 32 do not carry the normal sink drainage and can therefore be designed solely for the comminuted mixture of Waste material. This permits the use of finer straining grooves than has heretofore been advisable.

"The construction so far described is substantially that disclosed in my application, Serial No. 640,913, filed January 12, 1946. I

In connection with such a structure, I have foundthere is a tendency upon long use for the peripheral edge of the flywheel, i. e., of the wear disk 11, to become worn and when this occurs, entirely satisfactory operation of the machine ceases because of the increase of the clearances between the moving and stationary parts. In this connection, it is pointed out that for satisfactory operation close clearances are required between the peripheral edge of the flywheel and the impeller blades with respect to the adjacent surfaces of the chamber wall l so that large particles of waste will not pass through into the plumbing drain line.

The object of my present invention is to provide an improved construction which overcomes the tendency for the edge of the disk I! and the adjacent edge of part l4 to become worn.

According to my present invention, I terminate the lower ends of the projecting shredding members 26 short of the top surface of the flywheel to provide spaces 40 between the lower ends of the shredding members and the adjacent top surface of the flywheel and I provide on impeller blades 23 projecting lugs or ears 4| which when the impeller blades are in their outer and upright positions with stops 25 against the lower surface of disk I'I, sweep through spaces 40 to dislodge any material which may tend to catch in front of the lower edges of the shredding members or lodge under said edges. Also, waste material being comminuted which might be directed downward by the shredding members toward the rim of the flywheel is intercepted by the lugs or ears 4| and thrown clear before striking the rim of the flywheel. Thus by my improved arrangement, I prevent material being comminuted from being caught in front of the shredding members 26 and held there, causing wear on the peripheral edge of the flywheel and material being directed against such peripheral edge by the shredding projections.

Also, the projections 4| on the impeller blades, because of their close clearance with the adjacent wall of shredding part [4 forces waste material against the vertical edges of the strainer notches or grooves 32 to effect a flner reduction of waste material.

In Fig. 9 is shown a modiflcationof my invention wherein the lower part 42 of the shredding chamber wall (corresponding to part N, Fig. 1) is provided with shredding means each in the form of a strip 43 of suitable metal set into an axially'extending recess 44 in part 42 and provided with a row of shredding teeth 45 which project beyond the surface of part 42. The rows of shredding teeth terminate short of the lower edge of part 42 leaving spaces 46 corresponding to spaces 40 of Fig. 1 through which sweep the projections 4| on blades 23. At the lower inner edge of part 42 are straining grooves 41 corresponding to grooves 32 of Fig. 1.

By tests which I have made, I have found that by my invention I have increased materially the useful life of the flywheel and in addition improved the operation of the machine in that it effects a flner comminution of the waste material.

tion of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustra-- tive and that the invention may be carried out by other means.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In apparatus for comminuting waste material, the combination of a wall which defines a shredding chamber, a flywheel at the lower end of. the shredding chamber, the edge of said flywheel having a close clearance with the adjacent chamber wall, one or more shredding members carried by and projecting from the chamber wall above said flywheel, the lower ends of said shredding members terminating short of the top surface of the flywheel to provide relatively large spaces between them and the peripheral edge portion ofthe flywheel, one or more impeller blades carried between peripheral portions of the flywheel, and a projection on said blades extending upwardly beneath said shredding members and into close relationship with the bottom wall thereof and with the side wall of said chamber, whereby when the flywheel rotates said projections sweep through said spaces to prevent the entrapment of material between the projecting shredding members and the top of the flywheel.

2. In apparatus for comminuting waste material, the combination of a wall which defines a shredding chamber, a flywheel at the lower end of the shredding chamber, one or more shredding members carried by and projecting from the chamber wall over said flywheel, the lower ends of said shredding members terminating short of the top surface of the flywheel to provide relatively large spaces between the bottom walls of said members and the top peripheral surface of the flywheel, and one or more impeller blades pivotally mounted at the periphery of the flywheel, each of which when the flywheel rotates. comes into close running position with respect to said shredding members, and at least one of said impeller blades having a projection extending from said flywheel upwardly beneath said shred- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

-' UNITED STATES PATEII'IB Number Name Date Powers June 15. 1948 

